Dear Shareholders and Stakeholders,
 
With the expansion of our Canadian battery materials refinery underway, financing discussions moving in the right direction and exploration activities resuming at our flagship Iron Creek cobalt-copper project, we can now allow ourselves to start articulating a longer term strategy for our company.   

I sat down with Nick Lazzaro at S&P Global Platts to provide him with a five-year snapshot of the company and our long-term strategy. His article reminds readers that the refinery historically recovered nickel, cobalt, copper and silver.  The flexibility of our hydrometallurgical plant could allow us to quickly expand into battery recycling using some existing equipment. Thereafter, a further expansion into nickel processing would entrench our position as a leading North American producer of battery materials while strengthening the rationale to co-locate a precursor producer next to our refinery.  As we have learned with Finland’s Harjavalta Industrial Park and China’s Quzhou Industrial Park, co-location of the chemical processing steps in the EV battery supply chain can capture operating and logistics synergies while creating a regional centre of excellence. 

We will have more to share on this vision in the months to come.  Until then, here is a link to the article:

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/062921-first-cobalt-eyes-battery-recycling-nickel-market-after-ontario-refinery-restart-ceo

Regards,

Trent Mell
President and CEO